Method and apparatus for moving fluids



y 1969 R. M. LINDQUIST 3,456,873

' METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MOVING FLUIDS I Filed Nov. 2. 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet-1 INVENTOR. ROBERT M. L. LINDQUIST MMacIaa/mmg-Bnnddock, Maid/mug Arron/vex:

July 22, 1969 R. M. L. LINDQUIST 3,456,873

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MOVING FLUIDS med Nov. 2, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2,

I N VEN TOR.

ROBERT M. L. LINDQUIST BY womb/1mm laqadlcfiwug ATTORNEKI i United States Patent 3,456,873 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MOVING FLUIDS Robert M. L. Lindquist, 7912 NE. 6th St, Minneapolis, Minn. 55432 Filed Nov. 2, 1967, Ser. No. 680,237 Int. Cl. Ftl4b 45/00 U.S. Cl. 230160 17 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A method and bag pump apparatus providing a supply of fluid, as air, for inflating purposes. The apparatus comprises a collapsible bag with closure rods attached to opposite sides of the mouth end of the bag and one or more outlet nipples secured to the bottom of the bag. The closure rods function as handles holding the mouth of the bag open and as rollers in closing and reducing the volume of the bag. Attached to the closure rods is a lock arm which cooperates with a loop secured to the side of the bag to hold the closure rods in a rolled closed position. The mouth of the collapsible bag is also alternatively closed with a pair of plate members held together with U-clamps, a drawstring, or one-way hinged valves.

In the method with the outlet closed the fluid, as air, is caused to be moved into the bag by relative motion between the fluid and the bag. This causes an increase in the static pressure of the fluid in the bag with the result that the flexible walls of the bag billow out. The relative motion between the fluid and the bag can be caused either by holding the open mouth of the bag toward the direction of the flow of fluid or moving the bag into the fluid. When the bag is full the mouth is closed to trap the fluid in the bag. The outlet of the bag is then attached to an inlet of a receiver. The air is driven from the bag by reducing the volume of the bag to increase the pressure of the fluid in the bag. The volume of the bag is first reduced by longitudinally rolling the mouth end of the bag and then ap plying force to the side walls of the bag.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION The invention relates to a method and a bag pump apparatus providing an eflortless way of supplying air under pressure to a receiver, as air mattresses, inflatable toys, rubber boats and like inflatable structures. This is accomplished by a collapsible bag used to trap a quantity of air which is forced into the receiver by reducing the volume of the bag. The collapsible bag has a flexible wall and a mouth end associated with closure means for open ing and closing the mouth of the bag. An outlet is secured to the wall attachable to the inlet of the receiver so that the trapped air in the bag can be forced into the receiver. The flexible wall of the bag enables the appara tus to be rolled into a compact item easy to store and carry.

The method of transferring air into a receiver using a flexible bag having a mouth and an outlet includes the steps of opening the mouth of the bag and collecting air in the bag by increasing the static pressure of the air in the bag. After the mouth of the bag is closed, the volume of the bag is reduced whereby the air in the bag flows from the bag into the receiver.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of the deflated bag pump ap paratus of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line 22 of FIGURE 1 showing the month end of the bag closed;

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3,456,873 Patented July 22, 1969 'ice FIGURE 3 is an enlarged top View of the mouth end of the bag closed;

FIGURE 4 is a view similar to FIGURE 3 showing the mouth end of the bag open;

FIGURE 4A is a view similar to FIGURE 4 showing a modified closure means;

FIGURE 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the bag along line 55 of FIGURE 4 illustrating the inflation of the bag;

FIGURE 6 is a side view of an inflated bag pump apparatus attached to a receiver with a force supplied to one side of the bag to move fluid from the bag into the receiver.

FIGURE 7 is a foreshortened plan view of a flexible bag having modified closure members;

FIGURE 8 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line 8-8 of FIGURE 7;

FIGURE 9 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line 99 of FIGURE 7;

FIGURE 10 is a plan view of a bag with a further modification of the closure member and outlet;

FIGURE 11 is a plan view of the mouth end of the bag of FIGURE 10;

FIGURE 12 is a plan view of a bag having a further modified closure for the mouth of the bag; and

FIGURE 13 is a top view of the' mouth of the bag of FIGURE 12.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown in FIGURE 1, the bag pump apparatus of this invention indicated generally at 15 for collecting and moving air into a receiver, as a container or inflatable item. The receiver can be any item for storing a fluid, as air or water. Alternatively the fluid can be directed to any place or item requiring a stream of moving fluid.

Bag pump apparatus 15 comprises an elongated flexible walled bag indicated generally at 16 having a mouth 17. Closure means 18 cooperates with the mouth of the bag to either hold the mouth open or seal the mouth to trap the fluid in the bag. The following description is limited to air as the fluid used in conjunction with the bag pump apparatus. Air is used only by way of example as other fluids including gases and liquids can be moved by the bag pump apparatus of the invention. An elongated lock arm 19 attached to closure means 18 with a flexible link 21, as a cord, cooperates with a loop 22 on the side of the bag 16 to hold the closure means in a closed position. Secured to the bottom portion of bag 16 are a pair of outlet nipples 23 and 24 closed with removable plugs 26. Nipples 23 and 24 are of difllerent sizes to accommodate various sized connections to the air receiver. A single nipple with a plurality of different sized tapered tubular members and a removable plug can be used as an outlet for the bag. Also, a single nipple with a removable plug can be used with the bag.

Bag 16 is an elongated tube having flexible and foldable walls that open at one end of mouth 17. The bag may be formed from flexible air impervious material, as vinyl, polyethylene, or other homogeneous material. Alternatively, the bag may be made of materials as coated fabric, rubberized nylon, paper and the like. The shape of the bag may vary from rectangular, tubular pillowshaped, prism-shaped, and may be straight or tapered. Bag 16 is shown in the drawings as having an elongated rectangular shape; for example, the bag can have a width of twenty-four inches and a length of forty-eight inches.

As shown in FIGURES l to 4, closure means 18 comprises a pair of transverse rods 27 and 28 attached to opposite sides of the mouth 17. The mouth of the bag is along one of the short dimensions of the bag so that motion of the bag relative to the air has a minimum of rematerial may be used to secure the rods to the bag material. Flexible loops or links (not shown) attached to the rods can be used to limit the spreading of the mouth of the bag. Rod 27 is secured to approximately three quarters of one side of the mouth and rod 28 is secured to approximately three-quarters of the opposite side of the mouth. The peripheral end of the mouth is joined together with a heat seal to form a lip 32 surrounding the mouth 17. As shown in FIGURE 4, rods 27 and 28 move apart and in opposite directions as shown by the arrows 34 and 36 relative to each other to spread the mouth forming inlet opening 33. The shape and size of the inlet 33 is designed for child safety, air flow requirements and ease of operation of the closure means. The open dimension of the mouth should be such that it will not admit a childs head. In bags where child safety is not a factor the open dimension of the mouth can be increased to provide a maximum opening. Relative movement of the rods 27 and 28 back to their aligned positions as shown in FIGURE 3 closes mouth opening 33 to trap the air within the bag cavity.

The bag closure shown in FIGURE 4A is similar to the closure 18 with identical parts having the same reference numbers with a sufiix A. Bag closure 18A has a pair of rods 27A and 28A retained on the opposite sides of elongated flexible bag 16A. A pair of parallel rigid spacer links 76 and 77, as wire members, connect adjacent portions of the rods at the opposite ends of the mouth of the bag. The ends of the links 76 and 77 are connected with pivot members 78 to the rods so that during the opening and closing of the mouth, the rods maintain relative parallelism. The links prevent the bag material between the rods from folding so that when the rods are moved to closed positions, as indicated by arrows 79 and 81, the bag is flat against the rods. The month end of the bag can then be rolled without wrinkles to achieve an effective seal.

The method of transferring air with the bag pump apparatus 15 is illustrated in FIGURES 3 to 6. The mouth inlet opening 33 of bag 16 is initially opened providing the bag with a maximum inlet. The exit plugs 26 would have been inserted in the outlet nipples at the bottom of the bag so that air can be collected in the bag cavity. As shown in FIGURE 4, mouth inlet opening 33 is opened by moving the rods 27 and 28 in opposite directions and away from each other providing the bag with a rectangularly shaped inlet opening. Air is collected in the bag by increasing the static pressure of the air in the bag cavity. This can be accomplished by moving the bag relative to the air or holding the bag with the open mouth in a stream of air.

As shown in FIGURE for one method of moving the bag relative to the air, the entire bag is sequentially moved in up and down directions, as indicated by arrows 37, to fill the bag with air by increasing the static pressure of the air in the bag cavity. The air is collected in the bag by holding the mouth 17 open during the upstroke and then closing the mouth by moving the rods 27 and 28 toward each other on the downstroke. The opening and closing of mouth 17 is sequentially repeated until the desired amount of air is in the bag 16.

Month 17 is closed and sealed by rolling the mouth end 17 of the bag about the rods 27 and 28. As shown in FIGURES 2 and 7, the bag material wraps or rolls tightly around both rods 27 and 28 with the pressure of the air in the bag sealing the bag walls against each other. In addition to forming a seal at the mouth of the bag, rolling of the bag on the rods reduces the volume of the bag thereby increasing the pressure of the air in the bag.

As shown in FIGURE 6, lock arm 19 rotates with the rods 27 and 28 and may be used as a crank arm to simultaneously turn the rods to pull up the mouth of the bag. The lock arm 19 is placed in a lock position by inserting the free end of the arm into the loop 22 thereby preventing the reverse movement of the arm and unrolling of the mouth.

A tubular member 38 is used to connect outlet nipple 23 with the inlet nipple 39 of an air receiver 41, as an inflatable mattress, boat and the like. The volume of the bag 16 is reduced to increase the pressure of the air in the bag thereby increasing the flow of air from bag 16 into receiver 41. A weight 42 applying a downward pressure, as shown by arrow 43, on the top of the bag is used to collapse the bag until the volume of the bag approaches 'zero. The weight can be a person sitting on the side of the bag or a block of material. The process of filling and emptying the bag 16 is repeated until receiver 41 has a desired amount of air.

Referring to FIGURES 7, 8 and 9 there is shown a modified bag pump apparatus having a flexible bag 44 with a closure means indicated generally at 46 associated with the mouth of the bag. Closure means 46 comprises a pair of fiat elongated plate members 47 and 48 attached to opposite sides of the bag. The mouth of the bag is lapped over the plate members 47 and 48 in a manner similar to the laps over the rods shown in FIGURES 3 and 4. This enables the mouth of the bag to be opened by oppositely moving and spreading the plate members 47 and 48. A pair of U-shaped spring clips 49 and 51 are placed about the opposite ends of the plate members 47 and 48 to retain the mouth end of the bag in the closed position. The facing portions 52 and 53 of the bag are in face-to-face surface relation thereby sealing the mouth of the bag. After the outlet 54 of bag 44 is attached to a receiver the air is forced from the bag 44 into the receiver by rolling up the mouth end of the bag and applying force to the side of the bag.

Referring to FIGURES 10 and 11, there is shown a further modification of the bag pump apparatus comprising an elongated flexible bag 55 having a rectangular frame 56 attached to the mouth of the bag. The frame 56 has an outwardly directed handle 57 enabling the operator to hold both the bag and the frame with the mouth of the bag open. Closure means indicated generally at 61 is associated with the top portion of the bag below the frame to close the bag. Closure means 61 comprises a drawstring or cord 62 surrounding a resilient block 63, as foam rubber, secured to the inside wall of bag 55. An outlet tube 64 extends through block 63 and out the mouth of bag 55. Bag 55 is closed by drawing the string 62 about the resilient block. The material of the bag gathers about the block and forms a seal with the resilient block when drawstring 62 is tightened. After the outlet tube 64 is connected to the receiver, force applied to the bag 55 forces the air from the bag into the receiver.

Referring to FIGURES 12 and 13, there is shown a further modification of the bag pump apparatus and the closure means for closing the top of an elongated flexible bag. The bag pump apparatus has an elongated flexible bag 66 having a mouth 68 secured to a rectangular frame 67 used to hold the mouth 68 of the bag open. Pivotally mounted on the opposite ends of frame 67 are a pair of doors 69 and 71 attached to an elongated hinge 72. Doors 69 and 71 function as one way valves permitting the air to move into bag 66 and act as closure members for the mouth 68. Springs (not shown) can be used to hold the doors 69 and 71 closed. The doors 69 and 71 together with the frame 67 comprises the closure means indicated generally at 73 for the mouth of the bag. Secured to the bottom of the bag is an outlet nipple 74 adapted to be connected to the air receiver.

In use on upward movement of bag 66 the donors 69 and 71 will move to the open position as shown in broken lines in FIGURE 12 allowing the air to flow through mouth 68 into bag 66. Movement of doors 69 and 71 to a closed position adjacent the bottom of frame 67 traps the air in the bag 66. To reduce the volume of the bag, the frame may be rolled onto the bag and force may be applied to the side of the bag to force the air from the bag into the air receiver.

While there has been shown and described preferred embodiments of the invention, it is to be understood that various changes in the bag pump apparatus and method including the closure means, the bag material and the size and shape of the bag and closure means, may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. The invention is to be limited only as indicated by the following claims.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

I claim:

1. A method of moving fluid into a receiver with a flexible bag having a mouth and an outlet comprising the steps of: opening the mouth of the bag, collecting fluid in the bag, closing the mouth of the bag in side-byside relation to trap the collected fluid in the bag, and reducing the volume of said flexible bag by first longitudinally rolling the closed mouth of the bag to reduce part of the volume of the bag to increase the pressure of the fluid in the bag, and then applying force to a portion of the bag while holding the rolled mouth closed, whereby the fluid in the bag is forced into a receiver connected to the outlet of the bag.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein fluid is collected in the bag by increasing the static pressure of the fluid in the bag.

3. The method claim 1 wherein fluid is collected in the bag by moving the bag with the mouth open.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein fluid is collected in the bag by moving the bag upwardly with the mouth open and then moving the bag downwardly with the mouth closed.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the volume of the bag is reduced by longitudinally rolling one end of the bag and then locking the rolled end of the bag.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the force is applied to the side of the bag.

7. The method of claim 6 including locking the rolled end of the bag and then applying said force to the bag.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the mouth of the bag is closed and sealed by longitudinally rolling the mouth end of the bag and then locking the rolled mouth of the bag to another portion of the bag.

9. An apparatus for moving a fluid into a receiver having an inlet comprising: a collapsible bag having a flexible wall and a mouth end with an inlet, an outlet secured to said wall, said outlet attachable to the inlet of the receiver whereby fluid in the bag can flow into the receiver, and closure means associated with the mouth end of the bag for closing the mouth inlet to trap fluid in the bag whereby when the volume of the bag is reduced fluid is directed from the bag into the receiver, said closure means comprising a first rigid member attached to a mouth portion of one side of the bog extended from one edge of the bag and spaced from the opposite edge, a second rigid member attached to a portion of the opposite side of the bag extended from the other edge of the bag and spaced from the one edge and flexible portions of the mouth of the bag interconnecting the first rigid member with the second rigid member.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the closure means comprise a pair of elongated linear members.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the closure means comprise a pair of elongated members attached to opposite portions of the mouth end of the bag and links pivoted to the members to control the opening and clos ing movements of the members.

12. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the closure means comprise a pair of rigid rods.

13. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the bag is an elongated flexible tubular member having :one closed end opposite the mouth end.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the closure means comprise a pair of plate members.

15. The apparatus of claim 9 including lock means for holding the closure means in the closed position.

16. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the closure means comprise a pair of elongated rods attached to opposite sides of the mouth, said apparatus including a lock arm attached to one of the rods and a holding means on the bag cooperating with the lock arm to retain the lock arm and rods in a hold closed position.

'17. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the bag is an elongated flexible tubular member having a closed end opposite the mouth end, said mouth end of the tubular member having lapped portions over the first rigid member and the second rigid member.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,787,153 12/1930 Huflman 230- 2,423,890 7/1947 Hurt 230160 3,120,167 2/1964 Kearny 230-160 3,297,241 1/1967 Andreasson 230--160 DONLEY J. STOCKING, Primary Examiner WILBUR I. GOODLIN, Assistant Examiner 

